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OKlahoma City

Startup competitions can be that one opportunity that could launch your dream into reality, but contrary to popular belief, one does not need to win the competition to reap the benefits of participating in one.
Each competition in Oklahoma offers cash prizes for winners, but also a chance for resource development, networking, mentorship and more. In Oklahoma, startup competitions range from collegiate business plan contests, student-centric pitch competitions to professional level ... Read More

With the popularity of do-it-yourself home-makeover television shows, Kelly Michelle thinks she has the perfect business idea: help customers learn to design and create their dream spaces in their homes.
“I help them discover their inner flair and help them decide what to do and how to do it,” she said.
But over the last year, Michelle, who lives in Duncan, a city of about 25,000 people, found herself struggling to get the business off the ground. “I’m struggling to know if this is a ... Read More

When Steve Soroosh owned a used car dealership in 2012, he learned the hard way that even when a vehicle looks perfect, it can be fatally flawed.
Buying cars at auction is always a crapshoot, he admits. Dealers have mere minutes to evaluate a vehicle before bidding on it, trusting that their knowledge is enough to catch whether a vehicle is treasure or trash.
A sparkling little 2006 Mini Cooper proved to be Soroosh’s downfall.
It looked perfect. It was as bright and shiny as a new ... Read More

While in London, Marcus Robinson of Oklahoma City struggled to find recommendations on local places to eat, pubs to visit or nearby attractions.
Tasked with starting a European branch for the firm he worked for, Robinson stayed in London hotels and in other cities around Europe. Like many visitors, he would wait in line at the hotel concierge desk to ask questions about restaurants, tourist attractions or even services.
Though digital advertising signs were placed in the lobby, touting ... Read More

Sometimes a simple question leads to a great idea.
Robin Smith of Oklahoma City was a marketing and digital freelance consultant for local car dealerships when a friend asked a fateful question that would change her life. About to purchase an item off eBay, the friend asked her if she knew anyone who could go “check it out.”
“I didn’t. It shocked me that this service didn’t exist,” said Smith. “It was just a simple idea, but no one was doing it. That’s when I started ... Read More

The 1980s nearly destroyed Oklahoma.
As oil prices fluctuated like a dying bird, rising and then crashing, Oklahoma’s economy felt the brunt. Banks crumbled and failed like weak empires, businesses closed, bankruptcies flooded the population and unemployment soared.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Oklahoma was mostly an oil and gas and agriculture state. Famous for the miles and miles of oil wells since the 1920s and the infamous Dust Bowl immortalized by “The Grapes of Wrath,” the state relied ... Read More

OKC-based CrowdSeekr.com is looking to help real estate investors make sense of the growing but fractured $2.5 billion real estate crowdfunding market. Through aggregation of some of the industry's top sites, such as CrowdStreet, 1031 Crowdfunding, PeerRealty, RealCrowd and HotelInnvestor, CrowdSeekr.com will allow investors to use a range of criteria to identify the investments that meet their specific needs.
From The Oklahoman:
Crowdfunding offers investors the opportunity to ... Read More